Interview: Paulo Jr. of Sepultura

A couple of days ago, I had the opportunity to have a wee chat with the bassist from legendary Brazilian metallers, Sepultura. As well as discussing the new album, Paulo put the famous rumour to rest once and for all. Read on for the full transcription…

How’s the tour been so far?

It’s been really good. The shows we’ve played so far have been either sold out or very close to sold out. We played The Bataclan last night and there was like 40 tickets left before it was sold out. It’s quite a diverse lineup but we’ve been getting a really great reception each night.

It may be a bit early to tell, but how well do you feel the latest album, Machine Messiah, has been received?

Rather well actually. There’s obviously still some people that hate on it because it’s not got Max on it but come on… Derrick’s been in the band longer than he was in it now so it’s getting old. Aside from that, folk seem to have been enjoying it. In some cases it’s taken them a few listens to understand it and get what we were going for but overall it’s been a really good response.

We decided with this album to have this Tunisian orchestra to fill in bits and pieces. Our producer Jens Borgan said we should go with that and I’m really impressed with how it came out.

After this tour with Kreator, you’ve got a pretty extensive run with Testament in The States. Are you looking forward to that?

Definitely. Like Kreator, we’ve always wanted to tour with Testament and this is the first time we’ll actually be doing so. It’s a strong lineup as well so I hope it’ll do well, similar to how this tour has been going.

What sort of equipment are you using at the moment?

I use Zon basses which are hand-made in America. I’ve been using them for 25 years now and I’ve never had a problem with them. For my main sound, I use a Aguilar tone hammer and agro. I use two channels, a clean channel and a dirty channel. They both come out straight from my pedal-board to the PA and I have my own cab and head for stage sound. Even though I use in-ears and everything, I still miss the pushing of the air from the sound on stage.

The advice I’d give is to believe in the music you are playing. It’s not an easy path, you’ll face ups and downs but if you ride them out and play live as much as you can, you’ll gain a lot of confidence and experience. That’ll help you improve day by day.

Are there any new bands that have caught your attention?

I don’t really listen to a lot of new stuff but there’s a band which Andreas’ kid’s in which has a kind of sound like King Crimson and older stuff. The bands called Lusco Fusco and they’re recording their first album now. They asked if they could borrow some old stuff so they can get the vintage sound. There’s a lot of good stuff out there though, but I’m an old guy now and I prefer to stick to what I like these days!

Sum up both the band and yourself in 3 words…

Oh man, this is hard!

[thinks for a bit]

I would say, Passion, Union and Courage.

And finally, this is something you’ve probably been asked to death about…